Tax shift

 ( Tax Policy ) 

Tax shift or tax swap is a change in taxation that eliminates or reduces one or several taxes and establishes or increases others while keeping the overall revenue the same. Specifically, it is often used to refer to increases in indirect tax and a concomitant cut to direct tax rates, or vice versa. The term can refer to desired shifts, such as towards Pigovian tax (typically and ) as well as (perceived or real) undesired shifts, such as an increase in tax burden on households at the expense of large businesses.

1. Tax shift is a kind of economic phenomenon in which the taxpayer transfers the tax burden to the purchaser or supplier by increasing the sales price or depressing the purchase price during the process of commodity exchange.
   Long Weiyang (2025). 9787302093541, Tsinghua University Press. ISBN 9787302093541
2. Tax shift is the redistribution of tax burden. Its economic essence is the redistribution of national income of everyone. The absence of redistribution of national income does not constitute an active of tax shift.
3. Tax shift is an objective process of economic movement. It does not include any emotional factors. Whether taxpayers take the initiative to raise or lower prices or passively accept price fluctuations is not related to tax shift. Whether the economic relationship between the taxpayer and the tax bearer is a class opposition or the unity opposition, it is also unrelated to the tax shift.
4. Tax shift is achieved through price changes. The price mentioned here includes not only the price of the output but also the price of the element. The price changes mentioned here include not only direct price increase and price reduction, but also indirect price increase and price reduction. No price change, no tax shift.

1. It is closely linked with price increase and decrease.
2. It is the redistribution of tax burdens among economic entities, and it is also a redistribution of economic interests. The result will inevitably lead to inconsistency between taxpayers and tax bearer.
3. It is the taxpayer's proactive behavior.

The free pricing system refers to a price system in which producers or other market entities can price themselves according to changes in market supply and demand. There are mainly three types of price systems: the government-instructed program price system, the floating price system, and the free price system.

Under the government's mandatory plan price system, the producers, operators and other market entities do not have their own pricing power, prices are directly controlled by the government, and taxpayers cannot pass tax burden through price changes.

Under the floating price system, the government determines the maximum price or minimum price of a commodity. Within the range of fluctuations, the producers, operators and other market entities have a certain amount of freedom in pricing, and tax shift can be realized within a certain extent and within a certain range.

Under the free pricing system, the producers, operators and other market players can freely set prices according to changes in the market supply and demand relationship, and the tax burden can be passed on.

Through the analysis of the conditions for the shift of tax burdens, we can conclude that basically there is still an objective shift of tax burden even if under the highly centralized program management system. After implementing the market economy system, there is an objective shift in tax burden. But the market economy is a highly developed commodity economy. Under this system, the production and business operators of goods and other market entities have their own independent material interests. Profitability has become the fundamental motive for all production and business activities, and the realization of tax burden transfer has become the subjective motivation and desire of various taxpayers. At the same time, with the continuous deepening of the reform of the economic system, the government has liberalized most of the pricing power, and the enterprises have a large amount of free pricing power. The free pricing system based on free prices has basically taken shape, and the conditions for the transfer of taxes have now been met. Therefore, the phenomenon of shifting the tax burden objectively existing in the commodity economy.

For goods with , the tax burden may be all passed on to the buyer. Because the fixed-cost commodity does not increase or decrease its unit cost with the quantity of production. At this time, if the demand is inelastic, the tax can be added to the price to realize the transfer.

For goods with increasing cost, tax burdens can only be partially passed on. Because the unit cost of this commodity increases with the increase in output, the increase in the price of goods after taxation will affect the market. The seller has to reduce production to reduce the cost of products in order to maintain marketability, and thus the tax amount cannot be all passed on.

For goods with diminishing costs, the tax burden can be all passed on to the buyer. Because the unit cost of such goods decreases with the increase in output, if there is no demand elasticity for taxable goods, taxes can also be added to the price and passed on. Under some certain circumstances, taxes can not only be passed on entirely, but even more than the tax price benefit.

	Tennessee
     

• Ecological economics
• Energy economics
• Environmental economics
• Feebate
• Green economy
• Natural resource economics
• Polluter pays principle
• Single tax
• Tax reform

• Alan Thein Durning (1998). 9781886093072, Northwest Environment Watch. . ISBN 9781886093072
• A Distributional Analysis of an Environmental Tax Shift
• Tax Cuts vs. Tax Shifts
• Making an Energy Tax Work for Business (in the UK)
• Sharing the Wealth (a web site opposing what they perceive as a tax shift)